The Beginnings of a Phantom
by AliceofDeath
Summary: AU.It took 3 events for John Watson to consider being a Phantom Thief as another occupation to get his sense of adventure and there would always be an audience for him even if he knows this or not, one inform of a criminal mastermind and the other in form of a consulting detective.
1. The Beginnings of a Phantom

John Hamish Watson age six, son of Emilia Watson and Hamish Watson, brother to Harriet Watson was by far the most likeable child in the bunch of their class.

Polite, Honest and Obedient are the most common adjectives use to describe him by his teachers and classmates but the world is unfair and the weak is preyed upon, the school bullies who take and take even when punished remain undeterred and one day John decides that they have taken it way to far.

It was afternoon school had just finished and John was playing with his friend Mary who had brought Mr. Bear with her that afternoon to show John the gift given to her by her dearest grandmother Lulu from Germany.

John who have been taught to always be polite and gentlemanly to females gave the toy genuine praises along with Mary who smiled brighter.

And it is here that the story begins.

Michael age 7 was the typical bully, stronger and bigger, preyed on the weak and took things from them for his amusement and today he preyed on young Mary and her precious Mr. Bear

with a mischievous grin he strode to John and Mary interrupting their conversation

"Hullo" he greeted grin on his face as John immediately put up a guarded look while Mary was terrified "what a wonderful bear you have there, Mary" he says and that immediately sends alarms off on John's head

"thank you, Michael" Mary mumbles as she hugs Mr. Bear tighter

"would you mind if I took a look at it?" Michael asks as John frowns

Mary scrunches her face in worry on one hand she didn't trust Michael on the other she would get hurt, she fidgets and clutches Mr. Bear tighter and John immediately steps forward and answers for her

"No. She won't and you can't force her." John says fiercely and defiant.

Michael frowns angrily and shoves John to the side fiercely and at the same time grabs the bear from Mary who was shocked

"too bad isn't it?" he taunts and makes a run as Mary with a teary face worries about John who had scraped his knees

"Don't cry Mary" John says comfortingly as he strokes Mary's face as he had seen his father do to his mother "I'll get Mr. Bear back to you" he promises and Mary blushes as John smiles because his smiles are that comforting. Later when Mrs. Morstan ask John walked Mary home, because it is proper for a man to walk a woman home, where Mr. Bear was he answers "on a vacation" with a smile and leaves Mary and heads back home which was just in front of the Morstans.

Later that night when everyone in the house has fallen asleep John goes out to his window and escapes out of the house and heads to Michael's home at 42 Fremond street. John looks at the surroundings and when he has deemed it safe he crept to the front gates and looked if there were any alarms or guard dogs, seeing none he proceeded to scale the gate seeing if he would be able to jump over it quietly or at least slip through it,seeing a leverage John climbs over the fence and jumps quietly and quickly rushes to the door.

quickly opening the lock with a pin, John entered quietly and searched for Mr. Bear in the first floor, going through the living room followed by the parlor and then to the play room where he also saw the other toys Michael had stolen which he took a few of the small ones and placed them in his pocket, still no sign of the bear he went to the study and there in one of the shelves was Mr. Bear quickly he strode to the shelf and took it.

suddenly the sound of footsteps echoed to the hallway and John hastened and jump out of the window and ran to gates with his hood up and he ran and ran and ran until he reached his home but before that he went up the tree conveniently placed in front of Mary's room and perched Mr. Bear on the open window sill before he truly went back to his home on his room and slept.

Later when he is woken up by his mother, he would grin and remember his exciting adventure and think nothing of it until he reaches his teenage years, later at school Mary would kiss him on the cheek as a silent thank you and he would smile back, he would then deliver secretly the little golems, trinkets and like stolen by Michael to their respective owners and the rest of the day would continue as usual for John Hamish Watson age six,son of Emilia Watson and Hamish Watson, brother to Harriet Watson who had just successfully finish his first caper.

* * *

Edit:A/N: thank you anon for the help :)


	2. Gentleman Thief

Note: V&A Museum = Victoria and Albert Museum  
Nero italian for black

* * *

On the year John turned 16 was the year his first caper happened, of course at that time he was young and a bit naive regardless he would not deny the thrill of successfully stealing a spanish and gold emerald pendant at the V&A Museum. What cause John to do this was a little dare from his dear friend Jim who became his friend when the mathematical genius offered to tutor John for calculus.

"Are you really sure that you just plan to be a mathematics professor?" John asked as he laid his head on the table, lazily playing with his friend's ballpoint pen, Jim on the other hand merely glanced at John and chuckled "what else am I supposed to do? that's what everyone expects of me"

John unabashedly pouted and complained "But Jim you could be so much more!" his friend looked at him and reached for John's unruly hair and twirled it and adopted a bored tone as he spoke "and what else could I be?"

"a consultant...of sorts?" John answered completely ignoring the intimacy of Jim's actions as he was already use to it, Jim stopped his actions and laughed amusedly making John pout even more

"what's so funny?"

"If I'm going to be a consultant then what would you be other than a surgeon?" Jim says for the sake of humor

"a thief like Lupin" John says with a challenging smile now sitting up properly and once again Jim is left looking at John with sheer fascination. Because what Jim likes the most about John is his endless stream of surprises a constant enigma that hides in plain sight and he relishes that fact among other things. As John urges Jim's curiosity he observes his friend who is made of sheer brilliance.

Jim who never fails to be interesting.

"you're planning a heist" Jim says in a whisper as he leans forward to John who mimics his action "not so much as a heist" John says with a teasing smirk

"what do you mean?" Jim says annoyed that his friend won't tell him simply "the definition of heist is to rob an institution,bank or museum with a large haul" John says "but if you do count the value of the pendant then I guess you could say it is a heist" John says as an afterthought.

"pendant?" Jim murmurs and it clicks into one place "you'll be robbing the V&A museum?!" he whispers, utterly shocked with John's plan.

John grins and gestures for them to go out and Jim follows,later that night Jim and John prepares multiple plans for their heist and continued to do so spanning one month of secret planning in cafes and libraries.

And on that time span as John discovers and sees the thrill of stealing things like Lupin subconsciously Jim sees the pleasure of meticulous manipulations and scheming for this heist.

tap tap tap

"He's on the west wing!"

'they're fast' John thinks, he quickens his pace and throws a tear gas as he maneuvers. He smiles in satisfaction upon hearing the curses of the sergeants. Bringing out his call card he places it swiftly and elegantly on the window sill and jumps out of the building and into the shadows of London, laughing merrily.

John stops upon ensuring that no one had followed him and brings out his phone and sends a text to his partner-in-crime

dinner?

a minute later upon changing in the stall he receives the answer

italian.

John smiles and hurries back to his friend.

The next day as John eats breakfast with Jim they both share mischievous smiles as the morning news documents their first shared heist.

"Last night at 11:30 PM a theft occurred at the V&A museum in which the prized and newly arrived spanish and gold emerald pendant was stolen according to sources our gentleman thief had left his calling card"

The news anchor shows the card with merely says;

From: Nero with love

"According to one eye witness report our dear gentleman thief is as handsome as Adonis"

"Adonis?" Jim says teasingly which John shrug off with a smile.

"So how hard would it be to return the bracelet?" John asked as he sips his tea making Jim laugh "Johnny, you are an endless fascination...probably harder by a point" Jim answers and John smirks as they both finish the breakfast and head to school both preparing for their next move.

6 years later both of them would be known in the underground as formidable forces and both would come to the attention of the Holmes


	3. Thief of Hearts

If one would ask Sherlock Holmes what cause his extreme interest with the world reknown thief Nero he would look at you in the eye with a raised brow and answer you in a tone that screams obvious "He's Nero" and be on his way, coat flapping in the air as he strides and hails a cab and you would be left at his wake befuddled.

Because for the life of his, Sherlock Holmes would not admit on being caught off guard by the clever thief while perched on the roof the Holmes family owned in Paris as the thief escaped the Parisian police through running above roofs and coincidentally landing on the very roof the then young Sherlock Holmes who had just turned 18 and smoking on the roof when the soft landing of a blond and well built thief startled him a bit.

Nero, Sherlock later learned was the thief's name whom he first heard of when he was 15, turned his head with a grace like a curious cat to Sherlock and pivoted and regarded him with a look that until now he could never decipher as the thief in question was good at hiding himself and 5 years down the road Sherlock Holmes would admit that the thief Nero had no person behind the mask.

"_what's a pretty thing like you doing here unguarded? _" He asked with fluent french.

Sherlock merely frowned at him, which only made the man chuckle " _come on, now surely you can spare me some time to chat?_ " he says so invitingly that if this man was not carrying a purely stolen painting from the Louvre, Sherlock would have definitely been friends with him at one point.

" _for a thief that is being hunted by both the Gendarmerie and Police you seem so lax" _Sherlock answered cheekily as he stood up and stubbed out his fag.

" _worry not, my dear _" Nero said as he suddenly took hold of Sherlock's left hand and brought it to his lips kissing its knuckles softly and sweetly that even the coldness of Parisian nights would not be enough to cause the bright red that colored Sherlock's pretty cheeks " _for no one could ever catch the darkness_ "

That would be the first time Sherlock Holmes would not be able to read anyone.

" _Nero _" he said a little bit breathless and at that moment the man who now had a name in Sherlock's head smiled and pulled him for a sweet and chaste kiss, before running once more, now that his pursuers had catched up. Sherlock despite being caught off guard would not forget the playful smile the clever thief left nor would he forget the fact that on that night the thief Nero had stolen two things, but these things would come to mind after Sherlock regained his cognitive function .01 seconds later and ran to the ledge seeking out the signs of Nero.

the only evidence the thief had left was the scrape marks from his jump and the darkness of Paris' back streets.

3 years later place on a little plain wooden box among other trinkets Sherlock Holmes had collected was a plain silver paper with nothing but an elegant black script with the written words

_From: Nero with love_

and perhaps sometimes Sherlock would spend some time thinking if the charming thief ever remembered him or thought of him on cold nights but Sherlock would stomp that thought ,because if rumors were true Nero charmed every person that caught his eye, and be on his way. In his subconscious he likes to think that his heart was stolen on that cold night by the thief who perhaps fancied him as well one day would hopefully steal him away.

One day when Sherlock tells this to his friend and occasional assistant John he would berate himself in the privacy of his mind for romanticising it but John's fond smile would make up for it.

* * *

A/N: now that the back story/ prequel is done the next story would start 6 years after chapter two and 3 years after this chapter.

EDIT: sequel to this story is posted entitled as Chasing Shadows, have fun ;


End file.
